


A Bolt from the Blue

by aj_linguistik



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Mecha, One Shot, Reverie Zine, Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 17:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21285644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aj_linguistik/pseuds/aj_linguistik
Summary: Written for the Reverie Zine.Rin approaches the team's mechanic late at night and places a request for a modification to his robot- if at all possible with her busy schedule that night before their first field mission. What could possibly go wrong?
Kudos: 8





	A Bolt from the Blue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I wrote this piece for the AnE Reverie Zine! Please check out the page on Twitter @anezine_reverie or Tumblr anezine-reverie for a full list of artists and writers to support! Our proceeds went to UNICEF- full details posted on the Twitter page. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this piece, so I hope you all enjoy it, too!

Despite being a place where cold, grimy machinery came together piece by piece, the technician’s work bay exuded a friendly warmth that often attracted the pilots to it. Pilots often needed to be present for the technician to consult them about fixes and upgrades, but it wasn’t necessity that led them into her space. Rin hadn’t come to request any upgrades; he just wanted to talk to her. He stepped over a pile of tools on the floor and glanced around. 

“Shiemi?”

Out of the cockpit of Suguro’s mecha popped the smiling face of the technician. She was all the way on the opposite side of the room from him. He waved and eagerly hopped over more scattered tools and parts on the floor to be closer. She appeared to be handling a repair for his control panel. 

“What are you doing in here so early, Rin?” she asked. 

Early was a relative term. He’d come to her at two in the morning not because he happened to get up, but because he’d already been up. It struck him as odd that she would be up this late working in the lab; there had to be an urgency to this repair. Otherwise, Shiemi would be cuddled up in bed in the women’s barracks. Later today, their platoon would be tackling their first assignment. Training led them up to this very moment; a malfunction with one of the mechas spelled out failure. This put pressure on her pride as the mechanic. 

“Oh! You know!” he said, as if it were obvious. “What are you doing? Did Suguro break his robot?”

Shiemi shook her head, laughing. 

“No, no,” she said. “His comm link wasn’t working right, remember? In yesterday’s training exercise, when you two tried to talk back and forth, he kept cutting out. I’m doing my best to fix it up!”

Rin frowned. Shiemi was a wonderfully talented technician. She naturally manipulated the machines as if they were a part of her. Her humbleness often felt more like a lack of belief in herself; perhaps he was too quick to consider it humbleness instead of a clear self-doubt problem. He opened his mouth to reassure her that her work was top-of-the-line, but she cut him off before he could speak.

“Did you want any upgrades or fixes for Aoi-chan?”

His train of thought sped off, leaving him in the dust to tackle her question. He made awkward noises of uncertainty as he thought. “Aoi-chan” was the pet name Shiemi gave to Rin’s mecha after he’d requested blue lighting effects. She’d given everyone’s mecha cute little names━including her very own Nee. Rin pondered over whether he could do with an upgrade or not.

“Can you make flames come out of the exhaust pipes?”

Shiemi curled in on herself and burst into a fit of giggles. 

“That would be very dangerous on a mission, Rin!” she exclaimed. “But it would look very flashy, wouldn’t it?” 

Smirking to himself, he nodded as he pictured himself driving a mecha that spouted blue flames from both sides. Yukio most certainly would find an issue with that, but the cool points for such an effect far outweighed some nagging from their squad leader. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Shiemi said, giving him a pleasant smile. “This comm link takes priority, but it shouldn’t take too long to fix.”

She slipped back into the cockpit and resumed fiddling with the wiring in the dashboard. Rin twiddled his thumbs, wondering if there was a way to restart the conversation and not interrupt her. A few moments of awkward silence passed before he let out a cry of frustration and leaned over to call her within the cockpit.

“Do you think we’re going to screw up today’s mission?” he asked. 

Shiemi paused her work and gazed off at some insignificant spot inside the cockpit. He could hear her humming lightly as she thought it over. Rin hadn’t been looking for an answer; he already felt like the mission would go poorly. The platoon wasn’t ready for this sort of thing, but he wanted to prove to Yukio and the higher officers that their squad was ready. 

About a year prior, he joined the Assiah Liberation Forces under special conditions. The rest of their squad knew nothing about the conditions under which they’d joined, and Yukio always insisted that this was for the better. Rin and Yukio were the sons of the leader of the invading army of Gehenna, a demon of a man whose main goal seemed to be the complete takeover of the nation of Assiah. The twins had escaped his watchful eye some time ago and now worked against him as mecha pilots. 

Rin wasn’t sure what Yukio thought about their clear betrayal of the man who’d raised them, but he personally detested him━as both an invader and a father. They’d run away from him years before they’d actually become pilots and lived with one of the A.L.F’s former generals, Fujimoto Shiro. Yukio joined the forces first, showing excellent proficiency in all of the testing and training he’d done. Rin followed behind a year later, and was, to his dismay, placed directly under Yukio’s command in this squad. He didn’t necessarily want to answer to his brother, but this was his only path to climbing up the ranks and being able to aim the canon of his mecha right in his father’s face. 

After all, it was his father who had killed Fujimoto. 

“Rin? Rin?”

He shook his head and blinked at Shiemi, pushing those memories to the back of his mind in order to focus on her. A worried look stared back at him. He smiled at her, letting out an awkward laugh. She frowned deeper and tilted her head. 

“Sorry, Shiemi!” he said. “I missed what you said!”

“Oh, um, I just said that I think if we stick together and get along, everything’s going to go just fine during the mission!” she said, her voice wavering a bit. “Even if it’s not perfect, our goal is to improve as a team...!” 

The mission itself was fairly straightforward━a reconnaissance mission to scout out what looked like an enemy camp. There would be no actual combat for the squad on this first mission, but they would be driving the mechas to get used to manipulating them on different terrain. So far, their training limited them to the concrete floor of the docking bay. This outing would take them over grass, rock, mud, and other obstacles that might affect movement, such as trees or vehicles. Naturally, they’d be able to do a survey of the area using the technology in their computer systems.

“I know you’d rather be fighting, though…”

Shiemi’s comment sounded slightly dejected. He didn’t know why; it sounded like she wanted to apologize for the mission not fitting Rin’s desire to jump into a combat situation with higher-ranking pilots. 

“I-it’s not your fault we’re just doing stupid reconnaissance!” he said. “It’s Yukio’s fault for telling Commander Shura that we weren’t ready for combat yet!”

“Well...I don’t feel ready for it yet.”

Her comment stopped him from making any more careless statements. As much as he wanted to be on the battlefield, he knew he had no experience. Shiemi’s words were honest, pointing out only the truth. They were a newer squad, formed by a year of simulations and drills that had little weight out in the field. She had every right to not feel ready. 

An awkward silence fell between the two. Rin never explained to the squad what his motivation for quickly advancing to combat missions was. He wasn’t sure of how to approach it, for one, but he’d also been strictly told by Lieutenant Mephisto to keep his and Yukio’s origin under wraps. The others might be wary of spies. 

The suggestion irritated him. Who would want to be spies for that man? Perhaps his grudge against his father ran too deeply. He’d viewed General Fujimoto as more of a father than that man had ever been. When his father had claimed the life of Fujimoto, naturally, his sole objective was revenge. 

“Am I holding you back, Rin?”

His head snapped up. He gazed at her, wide-eyed, and frantically waved his hands.

“No! Not at all!” he insisted. 

Even if her pace didn’t match up with the pace he strove for, he’d never tell her something like that. He didn’t even fully believe that himself. 

“Really?”

She looked at him expectantly. 

“I...I think you’re really cool, Shiemi,” he said. “I’m glad to have you on our team. We’re going to get everything right today! And after the mission, I’m going to tell Lieutenant Mephisto to his face that I’m ready for combat!”

Her face lit up, tinged with a little bit of pink from the embarrassment of being complimented. She glanced down at her watch and jumped a little. Frowning, she picked up her tools, starting to fiddle with the wires again. 

“I really should finish this up!” she said. “But thank you for stopping by and saying hello! I’ll do my best to get that upgrade done tonight!”

“Don’t rush yourself!”

“I won’t!”

He cast her a worried glance. It was already creeping closer to seven in the morning, when they’d have to be up and ready for the mission. Neither of them would be getting what Yukio considered to be adequate sleep, but Shiemi might not sleep at all if she stayed up late working on the team’s mechas. He turned and headed back to the barracks, not without a few pauses to look back at the shop with indecision. In the end, he fell asleep, hoping he’d be alert enough in the morning. 

Rin was awoken by the sound of his brother yelling at the top of his lungs, right at seven, as he’d feared. Yukio shouted for all of the team members to get up, don their suits, swallow a quick breakfast, and then meet him down in the bay for a briefing before the mission. Grumbling, he pulled himself out of bed, threw on his clothes, and tore down the hallway after his somehow already-dressed-and-ready teammates. 

He trailed behind them into the chow hall, snatching up something that looked decent enough to eat and throwing himself and his tray down across from Suguro and next to a half-awake Shiemi. Everyone except Suguro appeared to be dragging; Shima had his head in his hand as he lazily spooned mystery breakfast into his mouth. Izumo stared at a point in the wall as she sipped her coffee, apparently finished with her food already. Konekomaru yawned in-between bites. Shiemi fought herself to keep from face-planting in the oatmeal-like substance. Takara silently took small bites without looking at anyone.

“So, is everyone ready for today’s mission?” Rin asked, already knowing the answer. 

The majority of the team shot him an irritated look. It was too early for most of them to even consider starting a conversation.

“I’m ready, but you all look like you didn’t sleep at all,” Suguro said, surveying the group. “Can you lot even pilot looking half-awake like you do?”

“I-I’m ready...to go!” Shiemi said, yawning in the middle of her sentence. 

Suguro cast her a doubtful, but genuinely worried look. He knew that she’d been up late working to fix his comm link. The rest of the table shrugged or mumbled something inaudible in response. Groaning, Suguro put his face in his hands and shook his head. 

“We’re doomed,” he announced. 

Rin laughed.

“Don’t worry! We’ll pass this training with flying colors and then Yukio will let us into real battles in no time!” he exclaimed. 

His volume was too much for the others to handle at seven in the morning. They covered their ears and hurried to eat their breakfast before Rin made more commotion. Agreeing with the sentiment, Suguro finished up his meal and marched off. 

“Hurry up and get yourselves into the bay!” he said as he left. 

“You heard him,” Izumo said. 

She picked up her tray, deposited it in the proper place, and walked after him. Konekomaru and Takara hurriedly followed suit. Rin, Shiemi, and Shima shared tired, but purposeful looks before dumping the rest of their meals into their mouths and dashing off, not wanting to suffer from a lecture that Yukio had practically stored up just in case. 

Yukio gave them all a quick run-down of the mission. Their job was to use the computer systems within their cockpits to map out the neutral territory in between the enemy camp and theirs for two main reasons: the terrain was unfamiliar to them, the army coming in to fight on enemy territory, and it was a reconnaissance mission to locate any hidden encampments within that supposed neutral zone. 

In other words, there was absolutely no need for Rin to test out the modifications Shiemi added to his mecha last night━in fact, it was rather a dangerous idea to employ it, as he’d be giving away their position to his father’s army. However, he hadn’t accounted for the fact that he’d requested the flames come from his exhaust pipes. He scanned the control panel for a nonexistent button to produce fire and frowned. 

“I should have asked her beforehand…” he grumbled. “It’s not self-explanatory how to make the flames happen.”

He glanced up from his screen and gazed out at his group members in front of him. Shiemi was taking care of scanning the area to his left. He glanced around to make sure Yukio wasn’t watching him and then dashed forward to Shiemi to ask her about the new function. That, however, was when he discovered, accidentally, how it worked. 

Blue flames erupted from both sides of his mecha, streaming out of his exhaust pipes as indicated in the request. The others jumped to attention and all stared at Rin, who appeared to be going up in extremely hot fire. With no way to tell if the flames were intentional or harmful at all, the first to react was Suguro. 

“Okumura! Activate your fire safety!” he shouted into the comm link. 

Rin smiled. 

“Oh! Suguro! Your mic works!”

“This isn’t the time to comment on━”

And just like that, the comm link went dead again, silencing Suguro. All Rin could do then was gaze into his friend’s cockpit and attempt to guess what he was saying from reading his lips. It was admittedly hard to do when he was shouting and waving his arms in a panic because he presumed Rin was in some kind of danger. Awkwardly laughing, Rin waved back at him, unsure of what to say for himself. 

“Rin! What is the meaning of this!” Yukio exclaimed. 

He turned to look at his brother, who was steering his mecha over to him. His face was barely visible from their distance, but Rin could feel his irritation slowly turning into anger. Yukio almost made it over to him when an unexpected shriek came from Shima’s mic. 

“Oh, what NOW?” Izumo asked. 

Rin didn’t know whether to focus on Yukio’s impending rant or whatever Shima was screaming about. He opted for the latter, choosing to gaze in the direction of his friend’s mecha over his brother’s. Shima was jerking the machine around wildly. 

“THERE’S A BEETLE IN THE COCKPIT!”

“Sh-Shima, stop flailing and let someone come in and help you!” Konekomaru said. 

As he snickered at the strange display ensuing next to him, Yukio approached him and knocked on the cockpit. Rin jumped and returned his attention to his brother. Yukio’s eyes squinted through the glass at him. 

“What on Earth did you do to your machine, Rin?” Yukio asked. 

His glasses glinted in the sunlight, causing his brother to lose sight of his eyes. Rin frowned. Looking at him when he couldn’t see his eyes removed the awkwardness of eye contact with the person mad at him, but also made the exchange rather impersonal. He went to point out that Yukio should move so that the glare wasn’t present any longer, but Yukio cut him off. 

“This very well may have just given away our position!” he exclaimed. “Turn that off before the enemy spots us!”

Rin flailed his arms as he spoke.

“I-I don’t know how! I barely know how I made it do that!”

“Why, you━!”

Shiemi hurried over to the scene, ready with the information as the responsible technician to save the day. She mimed turning a key.

“Rin, cut your engine!” she said. 

He fumbled with the ignition key for a moment and then managed to cut the engine. The flames cut off just as quickly as they had come on. Rin glanced over to see if Shima was okay; Konekomaru apparently had had to climb into his cockpit to take care of the beetle. He consoled his terrified friend and shook his head. 

“You probably ran too fast,” Shiemi said meekly. “The flames aren’t activated by a button or anything, they activate because Aoi-chan is expelling enough fumes to react with the flammable material I put on the inside of the exhaust pipes…”

Now, Yukio turned his attention to Shiemi.

“Y- _ You _ made the mecha do that?” he stammered. 

“I-I’m sorry!” Shiemi exclaimed. 

“So, instead of making sure that Suguro’s comm link was functioning  _ properly _ , you spent time trying to make sure that Rin’s mecha spouted very hot and dangerous flames from its exhaust pipes, which likely took a lot of work because he’s not currently complaining of sitting inside of a sauna.”

Shiemi looked like she might melt. 

Suddenly, the computer display inside of the cockpit lit up. Rin glanced down to see that they were being called by their superiors. He groaned as Yukio answered the call, ensuring that everyone (hopefully including Suguro) could hear what they were being told. It was most likely a reprimanding from the higher ups for screwing up this early on in the mission. A sing-song voice greeted the ears of the pilots. 

“O-ku-mu-raaaaa!” 

“Yes, Lieutenant Pheles?” Yukio responded, keeping his voice surprisingly calm despite himself.

A vein pulsed on Yukio’s forehead as he waited. 

“Please have your team report back to base and come to my office immediately ♥ !” Mephisto announced. “We’ll be waiting here for you all ♥ !”

The call ended just as quickly as it had begun. Everyone stared at Yukio in silence. He shoved his glasses further up his nose, closed his eyes, and resumed his orderly, in-charge demeanor. Yukio turned his mecha back towards the base.

“Return to HQ at once and report to Lieutenant Pheles’ office immediately,” he said. “Absolutely no questions.”

The reluctant party of young pilots quietly followed their leader, knowing that punishment would be in order for messing up this important but menial task. They parked their mechas back in the bay, climbed down out of the cockpits, and hurried along after Yukio, not bothering to change back into regular clothing. 

Waiting for them in the lieutenant’s office were Commander Shura, Major Lewin Light, and Captain Arthur Angel alongside Mephisto himself. From the looks of it, the major wasn’t even supposed to be there; he was crouched in the corner smirking, likely only there because Suguro was officially his trainee. When they all lined up, Mephisto hummed and scanned the group. 

Rin felt his stomach sink. He’d told Shiemi he would tell Mephisto to his face that he was ready for combat missions after the success of today’s assignment. Yet here he was, standing alongside his fellow squad members, being given a look that told him he’d ruined his chances at that. 

The commander was the first to speak up. 

“I want to know why you numbskulls thought it was appropriate to make one of the mechas spout bright blue flames that signaled where we are,” she said, frowning very specifically at Rin and Shiemi. “You lot were very far off of the base, but I could see those flames from back in my office!”

“Yes, it quite literally was a bolt from the blue, if you’ll ignore my pun!” Mephisto quipped. “Imagine, looking up from your desk and seeing bright blue flames erupting from the neutral territory. What a shock!”

There was a brief glance in the direction of Shima from the commander. 

“If you cannot control your fear on the battlefield, I suggest you learn to do so before you cause trouble for your teammates,” she said. “No one was hurt during your little panic session, but these are heavy machines that can dish out a lot of damage. Behave. If you really need someone to help you with an insect, at least turn the thing off before you hit whoever’s next to you.” 

The major cleared his throat. 

“And dare I mention the improper rush job on the comm link,” he said. “If you’d been on a combat mission and lost the connection with Private Suguro, it might have caused severe complications with the assignment and possibly cost him his life.”

Mephisto nodded at the words of his fellow officers. 

“So! With that being said! We needn’t harp so much on what happened. You know where you failed. You’re here to receive your punishment, after all!”

The squad, excluding Suguro and Takara, collectively groaned. If Mephisto chose the punishment, it likely would be something weird and unpleasant. The lieutenant grinned as he handed a slip of paper to Yukio with their orders for this “next assignment” printed on it neatly and signed with a flamboyant signature featuring a gaudy usage of hearts. 

“You’ll all be tasked with cleaning  _ all _ of the bathrooms on the base until further notice, giving our lovely janitorial staff a paid vacation until you’re relieved of duty!”

“Wha━we’re mecha pilots! Not toilet-scrubbers!” Rin protested. “Does Yukio have to?”

Mephisto looked over at him and winked, ignoring his question. 

“While today might not have yielded the best result, one never knows if a bolt from the blue is necessary to win the final battle.” 

With that, he stood up and swept out of the room, taking some of the feelings of failure along with him. 


End file.
